Neck and neck

Okay, that's a lame title for this post, but whatever. I haven't had neck and shoulder pain since I left the old job and now for the past two days it's back at it, giving me grief. I know why it's back (I've worked on a very detailed spreadsheet with several pages open at once for the past two days) so I'm hoping I can get relief once I'm finished. And I think I'm just about finished, but it's hard to know when you're not sure what you're looking at.

I'll turn 51 on Sunday. I think I'm still half way there, maybe a little more than half way now, and this has been an amazing first year of the second half of my life. I got to see and enjoy my grandkids almost as much as I want, welcome another one, watch my son become a doc, quit a job I hated, start a job I love, finish a couple of big projects including painting the closet in the guest room and completing a baby afghan, clean out much of the basement and sell the stuff in a garage sale. I started eating better, lost some weight, gave up running, took up bicycling, thought I was losing my hair, found out I wasn't, and still had no inclination to dye it. I bought a cool vacuum, tried to buy a cool little TV for the kitchen, found out it wasn't cool at all, so will keep trying. I took the high road with the old job, but managed to make them pay me for the hike. (Two hours tonight! Ka-ching!)

I found that there is no real harm in a glass of white zinfandel each night except that it's kind of lame. I found that there is real harm in several margaritas in one night, which is also kind of lame. I found that good chips and salsa make any meal better. ANY meal. Even breakfast.

I watched my favorite college basketball team win the national championship (when everyone said it wouldn't). And I watched the football team win the Orange Bowl (when they didn't have a chance). Payback rocks.

I devised (stumbled upon) a plan for our future (new job, better pay, excellent retirement benefits), for a future home (bit larger but with room for my mother -- still looking), and for my career (finally a job with potential to move up if I want to).

I found I can work more hours as long as I enjoy what I'm doing and/or am being compensated appropriately. I found out that my ability to tolerate bull crap can expand or contract as needed depending on the situation, but that I'm not putting up with as much as I used to. And why should I? Fifty years is long enough!

And speaking of bull crap, I've put up with eight years of Bush so I should be due for a president with intelligence and the ability to form complete sentences. Come ON! Fair is fair!

I found that I enjoy many of the new sitcoms but I still don't watch dramas or reality show competitions. If I could get a plan where I pay per channel, I'd get HGTV and NBC. And probably TLC and Discovery Health. And I don't care that I'm not up on anything that anyone is talking about because I rarely pay attention to what's on anyway. But I'm pretty sure I could deliver a baby and possibly perform a C-section if called upon. Wait....where was I going with this?

I found that I get off track, but that's okay too. Sometimes getting off track takes me to new places. Sometimes it doesn't. Who cares, as long as you enjoy the journey. It's all about the journey, isn't it?